DaRmaZat It’s no secret that, though Diablo IV was well-received, its online players started to drastically lose interest quickly after the launch of Season I, ‘Season of the Malignant’. There is no simple explanation for why this happened. But it did, and now we’ve got to move on. Luckily for those who’ve been raring for an excuse to get back into Diablo IV, along comes ‘Season of Blood’!
Diablo IV’s second season, which includes numerous additions and fixes that were promised along the line, also marks the game’s first steps onto the Steam platform. The seamless integration of achievements and the rest of existing functionalities only requires a one-time linking between one’s Steam account and the one on Battle.NET. This of course signifies a warm push in the back for newcomers to join the world of Diablo IV.
An appealing storyline and exciting vampiric powers
Of course, for players who already finished the campaign and for those still-in-progress, let’s talk about that new quest line in Season II. It includes an appealing storyline, that centers on vampire-related themes. This story will be lore-accurate to Diablo proper and expand upon the game series’ mythos appropriately. Players will meet Erys, a vampire hunter who asks Wanderers to stop the vampire pest that has been plaguing the surrounding villages. Gemma Chan’s voice acting lands superbly in the new storyline. Furthermore, the new concept of the Sanguine Circle and the corresponding vampiric powers feel effectively fresh and exciting, providing hours worth of enjoyment with your new build.
Many improvements and concessions
Gameplay-wise, world bosses and Legion events have been made more enjoyable due to the fact that the time interval between their spawns has been reduced. This really motivates players to start working together. Additionally, there are five endgame bosses in World Tiers 3 and 4, twelve new Unique Items and some new Legendary Aspects. Also, a lot of improvements and quality-of-life updates were introduced. Oh yes, they DO matter. These improvements include town and loot adjustments, improved mounts, more inventory space, better stash management, improved level scaling for the enemies and, maybe above all: less need to grind.
The latter immediately has its impact on the battlefield. Making progress in your character’s build has never felt this smoothly and more balanced due to the increase in XP gain. Those ten skill points from the start were so heartwarmingly welcome. Finally: Diablo IV has added and changed a few Glyphs for players to add to their Paragon Boards which they can use to develop their new builds!
In regards to the inventory, there’s more good news which makes the game a much more enjoyable experience. Finally, more search and filter options are available. On top of that, items can be set as Favorite, which avoids the accidental sale or salvage of these items. Stash-items can be marked as Junk as well. This way, players can enjoy a more modern take on inventory management. Also, the refreshing of the layout of some towns does really save the players a lot of their precious time. In particular, those scenarios where the vendor shop and stashes were too far from the nearest waypoints, were improved.
After a rocky first season for the title, Season II generally reinstates Diablo IV as the smash-hit it was always meant to be. However, a full assessment can only be made once the leaderboards are implemented, some time in the future. But for now, Season of Blood returns Diablo IV to an enjoyable experience which respects both your time and effort. It will be interesting to see how the game further evolves in the next season!
Played on PC.
Download code provided by the publisher.
